The Copy Ninja's TeamMate
by GypsysGift
Summary: This is the story of what would happen if Obito was brought back to life, called back into this world because he died before he could fulfill his destiny - to protect the remaining Uchiha's no matter what.
1. Chapter 1 Awakening

**Ok so this is just a story about what would happen if Obito had never really died. So basically he's been called back to life because he died too early, there's something he still has to do. Of course he doesn't know what yet but he will soon, hope you guys like it! **

**Disclaimer no jutsu !**

_**I do not own Naruto or anything related- (unfortunately.) **_**enjoy the story!**

**Chapter One **

**Awakening **

The last thing he remembered before the blackness was the sharp, searing pain of losing his eye, the precious Sharingan eye that had taken so long to appear, long enough to make losing even one feel like having a vital organ removed. The sensible voice inside his head, the one that had talked him into giving it to Kakashi in the first place argued that he needed it now a lot more than Obito did. Kakashi would go on to become the greatest of ninja, the voice told him, whereas Obito himself was going to die – and soon if the pain was anything to go by. Dying is easy, you know exactly when your time has come and once it has all that's left is to shut your eyes and let it take you. It's waking up that's hard. Which was why, after years and years of nothing but darkness, and numbing cold that had turned his limbs to lead, the sensation of feeling his heart begin to beat again was the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. Pain flowed through Obito's body as his senses began to return to him, first his feeling, then his hearing – enough to hear the rasping of his own breath anyway - , then what he thought might have been sight but he wasn't sure as there was dried blood coating his outer eyelids and as yet he couldn't move to clean it off. It was when mobility came back to his weakened limbs that he was finally able to alleviate some of the pain, awkwardly he turned himself over, sending twinges running down his spine, until he was in a slightly more comfortable position. The next thing he did was to raise a hand to his eyes, remembering before it was too late that his dying act had been to remove one of them, and fingered the remaining one gently. Wiping off enough of the blood on his eyelid to open it a crack, Obito winced at the light that came flooding into his world of darkness. That was before he gasped and sat bolt upright, ignoring the protesting of his much weakened body - because he recognized exactly where he was. It wasn't the place of his death, surrounded by treacherous rocks and enemy shinobi – but the training ground just outside the Leaf Village. Glancing around, Obito half-smiled at all the memories of Kakashi and Rin and Minato-Sensei that the place brought back, before remembering that by all rights he should be dead and not experiencing any of this, he shouldn't be _remembering _anything, let alone be seeing up close the place where all of his happiest memories had taken place. That was when, once again, his eyes widened. He could see three people out of the corner of his eye. Three people he was almost a hundred percent sure were _not _on the training ground with him.

**So what did you guys think? Do you like it so far? Don't forget to review! **


	2. Chapter 2 Destinies

**Umm… wow, the amount of reviews and story alerts / favorite stories just from last night were all amazing! Thank you so much guys , I'm going to take this to mean you liked the story! **

**So here's chapter two! **

**-Disclaimer No Jutsu!- **_**I do not own Naruto or anything related! **_

**Chapter Two **

**The Reasons Why**

Gasping, Obito pressed a hand over his one eye. Soon he found that if he focused his Sharingan on one particular spot, he could see the strange figures even clearer. The first thing that struck him was that all three of them were shinobi from the Leaf Village, the second was that he instantly recognized one of them. Kakashi Hatake had barely changed at all even though many, many years must have passed since Obito last saw him. He still had the same haircut that Obito had always thought looked cool even though he knew he'd never pull it off, the same dark green vest – though it was visibly more tattered than it had been when his friend had first put it on but Obito recognized him instantly all the same. Standing in front of him were two younger shinobi, both genin. One had blonde spiky hair and huge blue eyes that for some reason he couldn't explain, reminded Obito of Minato-Sensei. The second shinobi caught Obito's attention immediately all because of the red and white fan emblazoned on the back of his blue shirt. His dark hair was about shoulder length and Obito was sure that if he could see the boys eyes, they would be jet black. The more he looked at the boy, the more he found he couldn't look away. Suddenly, ice-cold fear ran through his body, turning his limbs once more into lead. Terrified that he was going back to the cold, dark , place he'd only just escaped, Obito tried forcing himself to move. Before he find out whether he could or not, he was held hostage by a strange, whispering voice inside his mind. _Do you see that Boy Obito? _It breathed. _That's Sasuke Uchiha, a relation of yours I believe. He is the last of your clan. _Eyes widening despite the paralysis jutsu he suspected had been placed on him, Obito felt his heart sink like lead in water. The last of his clan? How could that be? When he'd last seen his clan it had been thriving, there was no way this boy could be the last of them. _You died too early Obito. _The voice whispered. _There's something you still have to do. _Even before the voice had told him what his task was, Obito had already guessed. _Orochi –Maru has already promised this boy the power to avenge his clan. _Obito's eyes widened, of course he'd heard of the Legendary Sannin and his fall from grace, but he had no idea why he would promise anything to a genin from the Uchiha clan, unless –

_Save the boy Obito, god only knows what will happen if he falls into Orochi-Maru's hands. _It was only as the paralysis jutsu was released and Obito had collapsed to the ground, still weak body weighed down by the enormity of what he had to do , that Obito recognized the voice that had whispered into his ear. " Minato-Sensei!" he screamed into the silence. There was no reply. But Obito knew that even if the boy hadn't been of his clan, he'd have given his life for him if Minato Namikaze said it was the right thing to do. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to his feet, all he had to do was find Kakashi.

**Sorry it's so short guys, I'm hopefully updating all my fanfictions today and I've decided short and sweet is the way to go for this stories chapters! Hope you enjoyed it anywayz! **

.


	3. Chapter 3 Teammates reunited

**Sorry it's been so long! I just had my birthday on Sunday and I've been competing my two ponies a lot this Easter , so I haven't really had time to update, but I finally got around to it, hope you guys enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer No jutsu! – I do not own Naruto or anything related, **

**Chapter Three**

**Team-mates Reunited **

Kakashi woke with a start. Eyes darting around the pitch-darkness of his bedroom, he took a deep breath to calm his racing pulse. The air was still, the village outside his window quiet. There was nothing to be seen that could possibly have woken him. But Kakashi was an ex-Anbu, and he was confident in the knowledge that his instincts were always to be trusted. So slowly, painfully slowly, he reached across to his bedside table and retrieved the three kunai that he always kept there. As his fingers touched the ice-cold metal, he distinctly heard something rustling, not outside the window, but inside. Gripping the kunai firmly in his hand, Kakashi sat up, listening intently. There it was again, a rustling sound that – judging from its direction, was coming from the kitchen. Clambering out of bed, adrenaline racing through his veins like liquid lightning, he crept slowly through the darkness. It was probably just Naruto pulling a prank on him, it certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd broken in in the middle of the night – but for some reason or another Kakashi wasn't so sure. Reaching the doorway into the kitchen, he paused again. There was the rustling again, unmistakable now, it appeared to be coming from up in the rafters . Without hesitation, Kakashi threw the first of the kunai in the rough direction of the sound. A loud banging noise filled the silence, followed by the sound of heavy breathing. Satisfied that he must have incapacitated the intruder, Kakashi rushed into the room, not even bothering to feign apprehension. But as his eyes adjusted to the light – or lack of as the case was – Kakashi was met with a figure who, while being very familiar, was definitely not Naruto.

"Obito?" he breathed, barely believing what he was seeing.

The small figure in the orange and black jumpsuit raised his head, orange goggles slipping sideways over his face, recognition filled his eyes as he caught sight of Kakashi's face, mingled with another, stranger emotion that Kakashi recognized instantly – horror.

"Kakashi?" whispered Obito. "What – I can't believe, I didn't think – what happened to you?". Kakashi shook his head in bewilderment, how was it that the long-dead ninja who still looked exactly as he had when he died over fifteen years ago, could be asking what had happened to him?

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously. Obito, who seemed to be recovering from his shock almost smiled at his old team-mates incredulity. "Look at yourself," he said, almost laughing. "Your what – thirty? And there was I thinking only a few years had passed. Plus, I don't know whether you've noticed but your apartment's a tip, the Kakashi I knew would never have let it get into such a state, and as for these – ," here he held up the Make Out Paradise omnibus Kakashi had left lying on his kitchen table. "What are you reading these for?"

Kakashi shook his head, unwilling to explain either his addiction to make out paradise or the state of his apartment, both of which were – _delicate_ matters. What mattered more to him was finding out exactly what had happened to his friend. As if reading Kakashi's mind, Obito said quickly. "I'm not a ghost, I don't think so anyway, but I was dead, I thought only for a few years but obviously more than that." Once again a flicker of sadness passed through his eyes as he caught sight of the many silver-white scars that decorated Kakashi's face and hands. "I've been sent back," he said quietly. Kakashi raised his eyebrows. Of course he'd heard stories of fallen shinobi coming back from the dead, Minato-Sensei had been full of them, but to have his own fallen comrade telling him such things about himself was a totally different matter. So he sat quietly as Obito told him his short story, of suddenly waking up to find himself alive again, of discovering he was one of only three remaining members of his once-great clan, of discovering his mission to protect its future. It was only as Obito finished his tale, that the sense of impeding dread Kakashi had felt while listening it overpowered him. "Obito, while I'm glad you're back, more glad than I can say – there's something you should know." Suddenly Kakashi wished he could just curl up and go back to sleep, to fall into oblivion rather than have to speak the words that were already on his tongue. "Sasuke isn't here. He left for the Village Hidden in the Sound – that is, Orochimaru's base of operations – more than two weeks ago.

**So what did you guys think, was it OK? Don't forget to review, love you guys **


	4. Chapter 4 I Will Bring Him Back

**Ok guys, here's the second update of update day- hope you enjoy it! Oh and a special digital chocolate-chip-cookie goes to whoever can find the random Naruto song title reference I managed to get in here(please note their may actually be more than one, if so please point it out to meso I can pretend it was intentional!) **

**Disclaimer No Jutsu! **

**Me: Ok Sas- **

**Obito: Wait! **

**Sasuke: what?**

**Obito: Can I do it?**

**Me: no **

**Sasuke: sure**

**Me: Hey! **

**Obito: yay! – I do not own Naruto or anything related!**

**Sasuke: you see, he's way better at it than I am**

**Me: just for that, I'm going to eat the last Klondike bar**

**Sasuke: you wouldn't dare…**

**Me: (whilst taking bite out of candy bar) wouldn't I?**

**Anyways….. Enjoy the story!**

Obito felt shivers run up and down his spine at just the mention of

Orochimaru. Of course he'd heard many a tale of the legendary sannin as a genin and then as a chunnin – everyone knew of the Hokage's old favorite and his fall from grace. Everyone in the village who had the tiniest shred of common sense knew that to make a deal with him was to sign your own death warrant. But if Sasuke had grown up in Konoha why didn't he know that – why didn't he know better than to go to Orochimaru for power? And who would want what he could give? Confused, he looked across the room at his old team-mate, noticing for the first time the lines of pain and worry etched into his face, lines that definitely hadn't been there when he'd last seen Kakashi. The Kakashi Hatake he'd known hadn't felt pain even when he'd had his left eye gouged out, hadn't worried about anything but the mission and completing it no matter what. He'd seen a change of heart in his old comrade in the hours before his death, but he'd never expected anything like this.

"But why?" He asked shakily, voice wobbling with suppressed

emotion. "Why would he go to Orochimaru? What could he possibly want that he could give him?" Kakashi sighed. "You know obviously, that Sasuke is one of the last of your clan." Obito nodded weakly. "Well the reason for that," Kakashi continued. "Is that his older brother, Itachi, single-handedly wiped out your entire clan. Right before Sasuke's eyes." Obito's eyes widened. He felt like someone had put a hand around his throat and was squeezing it slowly, painstakingly driving all the oxygen from his body. The knowledge of the massacre of his clan had been more than enough to handle, knowing that it had been at the hands of one of their own was almost inconceivable. "Kakashi- are you quite sure of that." Catching sight of the anguish in Obito's eyes, Kakashi nodded again, hating himself for doing so. "Sasuke told me himself, in fact he was able to describe the event in graphic detail, it was a bit disturbing really." Kakashi tried for a smile, but Obito just stared straight past him, gaze fixed on the wall. He sighed, how could it be that _Obito Uchiha_ was being the focused one whilst he, _Kakashi Hatake_ was trying to crack jokes? "But to be honest," He said after a long pause. "I thought he was just beginning to realize that there were other ways." Obito looked his way, confusion clouding his onyx-colored eyes.

Darting back into his bedroom for no more than a minute, Kakashi

returned with a large, black-framed photograph which he set almost reverently down before Obito. "This - " he said, pointing at a good-looking thirteen year old Obito recognized both from what he'd seen in the training ground and from growing up surrounded by other Uchiha. "Is Sasuke just before he took the chunnin exams" The boy was glaring sullenly, evidently disgruntled at having Kakashi ruffle his straight raven-colored hair. What really captured Obito's attention, however, was not his good looks or his sulky expression but the look in his eyes. They were not the eyes of a thirteen year old boy, in fact neither of the other two teenagers in the photo had anywhere near the amounts of sadness or sorrow in their eyes. They were eyes that had seen it all, known it all, and didn't want to see any more. Obito sighed more deeply than before. He was beginning to comprehend why Sasuke would go to Orochimaru, even if he didn't understand it. "And this-," Kakashi said, breaking Obito out of his reverie. "Is him just before he left on his last mission."

The change was phenomenal. Although it couldn't be said that

Sasuke was smiling in any way, shape or form, in a way, he still looked happy. If his mouth wasn't smiling, his eyes – eyes that had been so weighed down by grief and tragedy in the last picture – were. The boy in this picture was a boy that was proud enough to fight for power, not have it handed to him by the likes of Orochimaru. But he had done, if Kakashi was to be believed and Obito knew better than anyone that he was. And that was what Obito couldn't understand. "What happened Kakashi? What happened that could make him change so quickly?"

His team-mate shrugged and shook his head. "I honestly don't

Know. "Before he left on their last mission, I heard him say – _I heard him say – _that he'd realized he was wrong, that he'd realized that what he had in Konoha – the friendship and the comradeship – were making him stronger than ever. But then he returned from that mission and everything had changed."

"Did anything happen on the mission?"

"I asked his team-mates but they said they couldn't think of anything to explain how he was behaving when they returned. He almost killed Naruto – one of his team-mates – before he eventually left the land of fire."

Wanting another look at his last remaining family member, Obito

glanced back down at the photo. What caught his eye this time, however, wasn't Sasuke himself, but the people with him. "These are his team-mates?" He asked, curious. Kakashi nodded, allowing himself what looked to Obito to be a proud smile. "Yep. That's Sakura Haruno." He pointed to the girl in the middle, her pale-pink hair held back by her headband, her light green eyes glittering in the sunshine. She looked just the same in the second photo, a nice, unassuming, normal girl – maybe not the best of ninja but one of those genuinely nice people that always made you feel bad about yourself for being slightly meaner. Certain that he'd successfully summarized her character, he moved on to the last team-member.

He couldn't help but gasp as he caught sight of the thirteen year -

olds wild blonde hair and shining blue eyes. "Who is this?" he asked Kakashi in a hushed tone. "That's just Naruto," Kakashi said innocently. Obito raised his eyebrows, unwilling to let Kakashi enjoy his obliviousness for much longer. "Naruto – what?"

"Uzumaki," there was no mistaking the laughter in Kakashi's voice as Obito raised his eyebrows at the mention of the last name of their old teacher's girlfriend. But there was no denying that once you got over the immense resemblance to Minato, there was a lot of Kushina in Naruto's face as well, in the frown that creased his face in the first picture or the maniacal grin he wore in the second. They were a good set of team-mates, Obito could see that, from both their pictures and the look on Kakashi's face as he spoke of them. Kakashi had always been hard to please and he doubted that time could've changed that about him. So if Kakashi Hatake thought well of them, Obito Uchiha would too, without even having to meet them. But there was something else, something in the way they both looked at Sasuke, something in their body language around him. It would be so easy to be hostile to someone like that, and Obito could see in the first picture – much earlier in their career as a team than in the second picture – that Naruto seemed to be tenser around Sasuke then Obito thought he would be normally. But by the second picture, that had all gone, both of his team-mates looked at Sasuke with a level of respect and understanding that Obito wasn't sure there had ever been in his own team. They cared about him, he could see that, and his being gone must be hurting them more than they could say. That was when he made up his mind. It wouldn't have mattered if Sasuke had been a hyuuga instead of an Uchiha, from the hidden sand instead of the hidden leaf, Obito would have gone after him no matter what if anything just to keep intact the friendship between team-members he'd never managed to achieve when he was their age. He and Kakashi might have realized as he lay dying that all their years of fighting and competing had actually formed a friendship stronger than anyone would have thought, but they had never had what Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had. "I will go after him Kakashi," he said, his voice taking on an edge to it. "I will go after him even if it kills me again, and I _will _bring him back."

**Hope you guys enjoyed it! Cookies go to everyone who reviews! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Well hi there readers if you're still there. (Can't blame you if not, it sure has been a while) I'm really sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus between this chapter and the last one. It was all because of a mixture of writers block, exams, end of term-ness, majorly drastic friend problems, having two ponies to compete and just lack of motivation. But the other day, somebody put this story on story alert and favorited it, which caused me to go back and look through all the lovely, sweet, amazingly helpful reviews you've all written for me, as a product of frantic plugging and ridiculously bad RP'ing and that was enough for me to get out my notebook and look back over my notes for this chapter…. Well that and the awesomeness that is Naruto. I know that this story just gets more and more AU as it goes on, but in this case I thought it was deserved, because I think if I'd been Naruto, I'd have reacted to Sasuke's departure more like this – if you disagree that's fine, but don't be a troll because I've had enough of that and seeing as I actually really rather love writing this story for those who enjoy it, I'd hate to be one of those writers who gets so much hate that they just stop writing the story because of the negativity… anywayz…. I hope this lives up to everybody's wishes/hopes/expectations and I hope it at least partly makes up for the long wait! **

**Me: OK Sasuke do your thing!**

**Sasuke: Oh, so you stop writing for nigh on three months and then you make a sudden comeback and think I'll just do whatever you want me to do? Well dream on!**

**Me: oh … well fine….. in that case….. Disclaimer No Jutsu! **

**I don't own Naruto or anything related, all rights go to Masashi Kishimoto, who I'd go down on my knees and worship if I didn't have a massive bruise on one knee from where I got kicked by my charming pony this morning. **

**Sasuke: That's it – you're not going to cry or scream or crack out a Klondike bar or get Obito to do it?**

**Me: nah….. the readers don't want to see that**

**Sasuke: I'm pretty sure Immy wants to see that**

**Me: Immy doesn't count, we share brain-cells so we're practically the same person anyway. **

**Sasuke: fair enough…. But reviewers will get Klondike bars and cookies!**

**Me: Did You Just do some shame-faced plugging all by yourself**

**Sasuke: and on with the story!**

Kakashi shook Naruto from the sleep he'd been hiding in since he'd

Failed to retrieve Sasuke, a frown creasing his forehead as the thirteen- year-old fought against Kakashi's vice-like grip on his shoulder, a look of pain filling his dark blue eyes as consciousness flooded back into his brain. "Leave me alone," he snarled ferociously, pulling his lips back in a snarl that did nothing to disguise the hurt and anguish etched permanently across his face. The wounds he'd sustained from his fight against Sasuke may have faded to silver-grey scars but Kakashi doubted that the aching of his heart and soul from the loss of a friend who was almost his brother would ever totally leave Naruto, because he knew from experience, that that kind of pain left scars that were more than skin-deep.

"Naruto, there's someone here who wants to see you," he said as gently

as he possibly could, trying not to give his student any reason to get angrier than he already was. Naruto buried his head back into his pillow. "If it's Grandma Tsunadei," he growled. "I keep telling you, there's nothing wrong with me, she doesn't have to keep checking me over for injuries that aren't there." Casting a weather eye over Naruto's apartment, which was in even more of a mess than usual, with dirty clothes strewn across all the floors, cups and glasses lying haphazardly on all available surface, plates stacked up in a teetering pile on the draining board – each covered in some kind of un-namable burnt substance that made Kakashi seriously wonder what it was Naruto had been eating for the past few weeks – Kakashi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah Naruto, I can see you're just fine," he said, unable to bite back the retort that had been rising in his throat ever since Naruto had spoken. Consternation flitted briefly through Naruto's eyes, before he subsided back into his now commonplace angry stare. Sighing, Kakashi stood up and walked to the door. "I'll just go get him then," he said into the silence. Opening it, he called to Obito to come through. As his friend came to meet him, Kakashi whispered in his ear – "I'd make it as quick as you possibly can, he's not quite the same as he used to be." Obito nodded to show he understood, then pushed gently past his teammate, into Naruto's room.

For a few brief seconds, the two of them stared at each-other. The blonde

Teenager whose curiosity had gotten the best of him as it always tended to do and the dark haired shinobi who was almost as old as his sensei, despite his incredibly youthful appearance. Obito raised his eyebrows ever so slightly, trying to find the connection between this angry, hurt boy and the grinning thirteen-year old whose energy had practically jumped out of the photo at Obito when he'd looked at it the previous night. For a few seconds, Obito wondered if that was what Kakashi had looked like when he'd disappeared, for a few seconds, Obito found himself imagining that look of total, utter defeat, on Kakashi's face, not Naruto's. Suddenly aware of the awkward, empty silence surrounding him, Obito fumbled desperately for the words to say what he'd come here to say.

The previous night, when Obito had proclaimed his intent to rescue

Sasuke from Orochimaru, whether he wanted rescuing or not, he and Kakashi had concocted a plan, or at least – half a plan. Whilst still unsure of how to discover the whereabouts of Orochimaru's lair, and even less sure of what they'd do with such information, Obito and Kakashi had agreed on two things – the first was that they needed to leave the village as quickly and as quietly as possible, it would do no good whatsoever to draw too much attention to their mission especially not if there was a chance of word of what they intended to do managing to reach the Village Hidden In The Sound – the second was that, deep in depression or not, for what they wanted to do, they would need Sasuke's old team-mates. They had already spoken to Sakura, who, though evidently still numb with shock, had retained most of her original open-mindedness, and Obito was fairly sure that she would be ready to leave the village with them the following morning. They had even spoken to the Hokage, a nerve-racking affair which involved Obito having to wear an Anbu mask that covered his entire face to avoid being recognized by someone who'd known him in his Chunnin days. Although they hadn't told Tsunadei exactly what it was they planned on doing, they eventually managed to talk her into letting Kakashi leave the village with a few other ninja - but for no more than two weeks – with the crisis level so high, she'd explained, it wasn't safe for Konoha to be without any of its finest ninja for too long until the threat had passed. But this task – convincing Naruto to come with them – looked likely to prove the most challenging of all. Obito understood Naruto's anger; he understood Naruto's sadness. He could see how having someone so close to you leaving for what had always been considered the dark side, on a mad and sickening quest for power, could destroy you. But that didn't mean he could understand the hopeless look on his face, the dullness of his eyes. He couldn't understand how any son of the Fourth Hokage could ever give up like this.

He would have liked to start off with that, he would've liked to remind

Naruto from whom he had inherited his looks, his ability, his general attitude to life – but Kakashi had already warned him that Naruto was unaware of his heritage, and Obito didn't want to be the one to lay a heavy burden on already loaded shoulders. Instead, he took a deep breath and said the one word he could think of that couldn't possibly raise any objections, couldn't possibly spark any anger or rebellion in this young shinobi.

"Hi."

Naruto raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. Obito thought, that if it wasn't

for the scowl he was still insisting on wearing, he might even have looked shocked. "Hi." He replied flatly after a few seconds pause. Obito took another deep breath, well that was a start at least. "I'm Obito," He said. "Obito Uch- just Obito." He had to quickly bite his tongue to stop himself from saying his last name, another thing he and Kakashi had decided the night before was that the less other people knew about who Obito was, the better. Quick to notice Obito's bitten back remark, Naruto's eyebrows rose just a little bit higher on his face before he said. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Good to meet you,"

"What do you want?" Naruto's flat refusal to play along with Obito's pretense at a nice, normal conversation, hung in the air above them like a cloud of smoke – dark, bitter and unavoidable. Obito tensed, his tongue twisting itself into knots as he tried to force the words out.

"You knew Sasuke Uchiha well, didn't you?" The effect those words had on

Naruto was incredible. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense, his eyes widened, his breath started coming in short, sharp, gasps and Obito realized with a jolt that he was trying to choke back tears. Then, as quickly as they'd tensed, every muscle in his body seemed to suddenly relax and Naruto slumped back onto his bed, limp as a ragdoll. Unable to prevent himself from staring in a kind of fascinated horror, Obito sat motionless for a few moments, eyes fixed on the blank, emotionless look on Naruto's face. The silence was long and drawn out, emptiness throwing itself against his inner ears. And then, in that same flat, deflated voice, Naruto said. "I did – or I thought I did, anyway."

Obito nodded, wanting to find the words to say that he understood, that

He knew what it felt like to know someone like the back of your hand and to have them surprise you, knew what it was like to watch someone change right before your eyes. Only for Obito it had been a change for the better, Obito had gained a friend and a brother, if only for a short while, whereas Naruto had lost one. Instead, he decided to cut to the chase. "Look –," he said abruptly. "I understand that Sasuke leaving has really hurt you,"

"No you don't, you don't understand,"

As Naruto's voice rose and began to shake, Obito clenched his fist and ignored him.

"And I get that you're probably disappointed in Sasuke for leaving you and Sakura."

"It's not his fault, he'd never have done a thing if it wasn't for Orochimaru!"

Obito clenched his fist a little harder at the desperate quaver in the Genin's voice, but once more carried on. He was beginning to develop a plan to get Naruto's consent, but it wasn't going to be pretty, he could tell.

"But you've got to listen to me Naruto," Obito pleaded, feeling his own voice catch in the back of his throat, the thought of what he was about to say bringing a slight watering to his eye before he'd even said it.

"He might be gone, he might have left. He might have disappeared and left

you with nothing but memories and you might be frantically going through those memories to find proof that he couldn't have said half the twisted, cruel, bitter words that he said to you before he left." It was official now, there were tears running down Obito's face and there was nothing he could do to stop them. All he could think about, the only thing he was capable of processing, had nothing to do with Sasuke or Sakura or Naruto. What was making him cry was thinking about years of being ignored, years of being belittled, patronized, put down, years of watching Kakashi constantly being better than he was, years of having to put up with him constantly treating Obito like he was nothing, like he was worthless. All those years, all those fights, all the lies, all the insults. Kakashi had left too, well, sort of. He'd left Obito alone on his mission to save Rin. He hadn't cared enough to stay with his comrade, he'd been too absorbed in being the best ninja, too absorbed in being the perfect rule abiding Jonin to fight by Obito's side.

Images flashing through his head, almost totally unaware of what he was

doing, mouth moving to form words without his brain's authorization, Obito practically shouted at Naruto who was now staring at him wide-eyed, snarl totally gone from his face, limbs shaking uncontrollably with emotion. "And you're probably half-thinking that he's better off gone, that your village is better of without him, that your team is better off – "

"Shut the hell up!" Naruto screamed. "You don't know anything about it! You don't know Sasuke and you don't know me, OK? I don't care if you're friends with Kakashi Sensei, I don't care what anyone's told you, you know nothing OK? You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I know _exactly_ what I'm talking about." Obito shouted back, blood

pounding in his ears with every word, pulse racing as anger coursed through his veins. In the years he'd been dead, he'd forgotten what it felt like to get angry, forgotten the guilty sensation of letting your emotions get the better of you. It was a strangely liberating sensation, feeling that rush of energy sweeping through his body, feeling his heart pound so hard in his chest, it made him feel so – alive.

It was that knowledge, that feeling, the feeling of his pulse racing once

more that reminded him what he was there for, reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing. It took some effort, but somehow, he managed to get his anger back under control before he said or did something very dangerous. "I know _exactly_ what I'm talking about." He said again, but much more quietly this time. "I've felt exactly how you feel. Not just the betrayal and the pain though. I know what it feels like to be constantly beaten, I know what it feels like to have people look at you and laugh, I know how much it hurts to have people you thought you could trust just go ahead and kick you while you were down. I know how much it sucks to feel like, no matter what you do, you can't win at all. But I'm here. I'm standing right here in front of you. So I'm guessing that's proof that you get over it. It hurts and it's tiring and you spend God knows how long wishing it was over and wondering when the hell you'll get over it begins, but you get over it."

Naruto was trembling now, Obito could just see him out of the corner of

His eye as he stared down at his hands, which were trembling too. Before he died, Obito had never had the courage to admit to himself just how much he hated Kakashi. Hated him at the same time as loving him like a brother and a friend, hated him at the same time as admiring him, at the same time as idolizing him. He'd never admitted to himself how many times he'd felt like a failure, like a mistake, like he was useless. _'Is that how Naruto feels?' _Obito wondered. _'Does he feel how I used to feel pretty much every day? Is that what he had to put up with sometimes?'_ But whilst he was thinking, whilst he was wondering exactly what kind of friendship Naruto had had with Sasuke, wondering exactly how much it was like his friendship with Kakashi had been, Naruto was sitting up.

There were long red lines on his face from where he'd been digging his

Nails into it whilst he slept, his entire body and movement seemed numb and heavy, like he hadn't moved at all for two weeks, which he probably hadn't. But his eyes, his dark blue eyes that looked so much like Minato's, had just the faintest glimmer of life back in them.

"What?" he spoke hoarsely into the silence. "What is it you want?" Obito

turned to fix Naruto with one Onyx black eye which, though he didn't know it, was identical to Sasuke's. "Simple." He said equally quietly. "I'm going to find Sasuke. And then I'm going to bring him back." The light in Naruto's eyes flickered and faded a little. "You can't." He said simply. "He's gone to Orochimaru. It's impossible to find him, and even if it wasn't, you wouldn't want to – not unless you had a death wish anyway." Obito shrugged. "I know."

Naruto frowned. "You – know?"

Obito nodded, smiling a bit. "I know it's impossible. But haven't you ever tried to do something impossible, something no-one thought you could do, because not doing it risks losing something you love? Because from what Kakashi was telling me, you seem to do that a lot." Naruto gazed up at him, something a little like recognition dawning in his eyes. "But you still haven't answered my question, what do you want – with me?" Obito raised his eyebrows. He knew he'd never been the brightest button, and he had been warned about Naruto's lack of conventional intelligence, but blimey this boy was dense. Grimacing slightly, he looked Naruto up and down, taking in his crumpled T-shirt and dark orange boxer-shorts. "Well, I've already convinced Kakashi and Sakura to come with me, so that's a legendary jonin and a trainee healer on our side, and of course I'll be there to lend my incredible talents to the job," with that he grinned in what he'd always thought was a heroic manner, which failed to impress Naruto. "But you see," he said theatrically, all of his earlier anger gone from his voice. "I could do with one more Shinobi. And who better than the kid who knows Sasuke better than anyone else alive?"

Naruto almost smiled. He almost, _almost _smiled. But a shadow of doubt,

a faint scattering of insecurity, had crept back into his eyes, and he frowned once more. "I couldn't bring Sasuke back last time. I wasn't good enough."

Obito shook his head. "No. But you were alone. And you weren't prepared for what you were facing, nobody's ever taught how to beat one of their friends during their training, life would be an awful lot easier if they were."

Naruto shook his head. "It's still impossible. It won't work."

Obito shrugged once more. "So we try again and hope that _that _works instead."

The frown on Naruto's face deepened. "You don't even know Sasuke – why are you doing this?"

Obito grimaced again. "Because someone I used to respect very much

Would have wanted me to." It was the exact same thing he'd said to Sakura that morning, and the words had sounded just as hollow and empty then as they did now. Looking at Naruto, the emotion in his eyes some strange mixture of eagerness, hope and doubt, Obito knew that those words would never be enough. He couldn't tell Naruto the truth, that much was obvious to him, but there was one other thing he could say, something he'd said once before, and seeing as it had changed three lives then, it was possible it could do the same again. "You see Naruto, In the Ninja World, those that don't follow the rules and regulation are called trash. But those who abandon their comrades and friends are worst then trash. If going to save Sasuke makes us trash, then let us be trash."

Naruto stared up at him, dumbfounded. Of course, Obito wasn't to know that Kakashi had spoken those exact same words to the members of Team 7 on their first ever training mission. It wasn't for Obito to know but at that exact moment, there was nothing that Naruto wanted to hear more than those words.

There was yet another long silence, but at least to Obito, this time the

Silence seemed more contented, more companionable. And this time the silence was broken by something both sides of the argument were glad to hear.

"So when do we leave?"

**So…. What did you think? Even if you absolutely hated it could you maybe lie about it in a review if I promised Klondike bars and cookies? **


End file.
